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Gearshift
Gearshift is an enormous wasteland inhabited by Grease Humans. At the moment, it is controlled by the Iron Guardsmen Armored Column. Gearshift contains entire caches of armored vehicles, inactive factories and infantry armor made by some galaxy-spanning imperium that no one to this day can seem to recall. Gearshift’s history is one covered in the grime of violence and war. 'History' Rather than die out in space, the crew of Armageddon’s Return, a ship filled to the brim with equipment, colonists and military personnel, instead chose to guide their wounded spacecraft to the closest world to them, land the huge transport on said world and attempt to make repairs. However, the landing of the carrier was improperly monitored by the ship’s damaged onboard computer systems, which ended up causing the giant ship to crash onto the surface of the barren world, damaging it beyond repair. Much of the crew did not survive the impact—but many of them did. Attempts to phone home failed, and with no way to return to or contact their loved ones, the crew of Armageddon’s Return gloomily realized that the planet they found themselves on was, without a doubt, their new home. Because it was a colony ship, Armageddon’s Return was equipped with terraforming equipment that could turn a dead world into a living world within a set amount of time. As Armageddon's Return slowly changed the world around her, the military personnel of Armageddon’s Return made do with their environmentally-sealed armored vehicles to get around the planet safely, ferrying colonists and equipment to new destinations and frontiers. The tanks and APCs were so instrumental to the early success of the colonization effort that the colonists and military personnel that utilized them named their new home'' Gearshift'' in their honor. Things were looking up for the colonists, with many of them predicting that a smaller interstellar vessel could be ready within the next ten or twenty years. Returning home seemed like a real possibility at this point. As mini-colonies were created, it was found that many massive caches filled with ancient weapons, electronic blueprints, old vehicles, dormant factories, and wizened sets of battle armor were created by a civilization called the Imperium of Man. Usually referred to as Relics, much of the recreational and non-military technology was reverse-engineered to satisfy the colonists’ needs, while the military equipment was promptly handed over to the military personnel to do with as they pleased. Some of the ancient factories were reactivated, and began churning out peaceful products that the colonists found incredibly useful. But by this time, differences in ideals, beliefs and long-term goals for the group as a whole caused a great number of renegade groups of militia to form. These groups, called '' Armored Columns'', did not fight the colonists much, but they did war with one another to see which group would be allowed to enjoy sole ownership over the Relic weapons, armor, vehicles and war factories. They spread out along Gearshift's vast lands, seizing many of the once-dormant factories to construct their own war machines and the war machines used by the ancient civilisation. The dust-filled air combined with Gearshift's powerful winds wreaked havoc on the thin armor and exposed skin of ground troops, rendering infantry-based combat virtually impossible. Aircraft were used for a time, but the dusty winds destroyed sensitive optical equipment and jammed engine intakes; the unbearable heat, crippling radiation levels and bone-chilling nights did not help the situation. Tanks, being sealed and more hardy than both flying machines and standard soldiers, were the ideal medium in which to wage war through, and saw extensive use as a result. In the course of seven-hundred years of nonstop armored combat, nearly seventy-million lives would be lost. This series of wars would be later referred to as the Sandstorm Engagements. Not a single Armored Column would manage to obtain total control over the world or over the scavenged technology during the Sandstorm Engagements. Many colonists, weary of the wars, thought that the Armored Columns would recede back into Gearshift's dense wastes after seemingly exhausting their capacity to wage war. This, however, was not meant to be. After Gearshift was finally turned into a livable home by '' Armageddon's Return'', nuclear weapons were employed by the world's Armored Columns, plunging Gearshift back into its previous barren state in just under two hours of nuclear exchange. Armageddon’s Return, having exhausted its power supply during the initial terraforming process, was unable to undo the damage that had been done. Many of the cities had been reduced to rubble, with dozens of Armored Columns being completely wiped out. Those Armored Columns that managed to survive the carnage suffered tremendous losses both in lives and in equipment. However, one group—namely the Tankers of Old— were left relatively unscathed by the nuclear war, and rapidly amassed an army of tanks and artillery. Their numbers thinned, the Armored Columns of Gearshift could not stand against the Tankers of Old, and were quickly absorbed into their ranks. The conquest of Gearshift came soon after, with the remaining cities, towns and ancient factories falling under ToO control in just under four weeks. The Tankers of Old brought about a new age of prosperity and growth. The cities, although leveled, were rebuilt in time, with Gearshift becoming the world it should have been in just under 100 years. The Tankers of Old eventually gave up their title to the Iron Guardsmen, who helped establish Armored Security. Origins ' Upon closer inspection, the inhabitants of Gearshift realized that their world was considerably different than the other planets that resided within the known universe. The technology that it held did not belong to the Golden Empire or to any nation that currently existed within the galaxy, which drove many to believe that the world hailed from an entirely different plane of existence altogether. The world, although renamed by its new guests after some time, was originally called “Mars”, and that it seemed to be a military installation of some sort whose primary function was to produce war material for a mysterious galaxy-spanning faction that no one can remember ever existing. How (or more importantly “what”) transported Gearshift (or Mars as it had originally been called) to its new location still remains to be discovered. 'Gearshift's Timeline ' 1AA: Armageddon’s Return touches down on the surface of Body 000X. At this point in time, the colonists do not know of the red world’s hidden secrets, and assume that the planet is some sort of strange space anomaly on account of it not existing within a star system, thus lacking a star. Oddly enough, the world is somehow able to support ''meager amounts of life, with ample quantities of light shining down on the planet's surface. The colonists set to work, spreading out along the world’s surface and creating colonies in their wake. Armageddon’s Return's ''terraforming equipment begins to slowly resurrect the dead planet. 30AA: The colonization effort is going smoothly; the military vehicles that carry them across the Wasteland World’s landscape give way to the colonists naming their new home Gearshift. Strange structures and ruins are discovered, hinting at Gearshift being occupied long before the colonists arrived. 45AA: Huge factories, some of them hundreds of miles in length and dozens of miles in width, are discovered, with electronic blueprints and ancient weapons, armor and vehicles being found as well. The colonists use these wizened artifacts to their advantage, creating for themselves the things they need to make a life worth living. The military vehicles, infantry armor and weapons are handed over to the military personnel that were onboard ''Armageddon’s Return. They use them to protect the vunerable colonists from Gearshift's native apex predators, while other vehicles are used as scouts to look for other promising land to settle on. 70AA: Displeased with the progress being made on Gearshift, thousands of military personnel abandon the colonists they were sworn to protect. They form raider groups called 'Armored Columns', and begin to war with other military groups for control over the ancient war material-producing factories. To them, more weapons and armored vehicles equals more power. The remaining military personnel still loyal to the colonists stay behind to protect them from their wild comrades for a time, but eventually fall to their own desires. Those that fail to become raiders and bandits eventually turn into nomads, their vehicles transporting them across the Wasteland World's battered and beaten surface. The Sandstorm Engagements begin, with the war spanning across the entire globe. 120AA: Several small groups of colonists find and begin to repair antique war machines called ‘Titans’. Truly massive Titans are discovered (some of which reach well over one-hundred feet in height), yet they prove to be too large to handle. They are left undisturbed. 125AA: The Cult of Mechcania is founded and proceeds to expand northward. They come into contact with a patch of land that is completely drenched in radiation, yet pay the danger no mind as they dig for lost technology. Many cultists die to radiation poisoning, yet some survive, and eventually develop extremely powerful yet unstable psychic powers. The cultists return to their encampment to share what they have found. A society of psychics is created, with a religion revolving around a deity called ‘Techno-Phase’ being developed. 135AA: The Nomadic Tribunal is founded. Made up of hundreds of nomafic groups and acting as a direct opposite to the Armored Columns of Gearshift, the Nomadic Tribunal wages war against any and all Armored Columns, with its leaders intending on exterminating all that stand in their way. To them, allowing Gearshift to fall into ruin is not an option. The Armored Columns and their leaders must be put down. 140AA: The Cult of Mechcania emerges from the shadows, its ten War Engines in tow and a look of insanity in its members’ eyes. Kaliah, having been the first to be mated with a War Engine, leads the Cult of Mechcania in battle, her ferocity unmatched and her fear completely nonexistent. The Cult, possessing weaponry that surpasses that of any known Armored Column’s (and even the Nomadic Tribunal’s, whom field large amounts of heavy tanks and artillery pieces when pressed into conflict), easily sweeps aside all opposition that stands against them. Thousands of tanks (both Relic and First-Era) fall to the overpowering might of the Mechcanian War Engines. As the war wages on, the Citadel Foundry is completed, and serves as the cult’s home and primary method of producing new war machines. 160AA: The Cult of Mechcania acquires a further thirteen War Engines, bringing the total amount of Titans to twenty-three. To increase their deadliness, the War Engines are placed into pack-sized groups, with each pack containing five War Engines. The destruction that ensues is immense, with the cult reigning uncontested on the battlefield for sixty straight years. The Armored Columns of Gearshift, unable to contend with the cult’s might, retreat underground. The people on the surface are left to the mercy of the cult, which goes on to slowly convert the inhabitants of Gearshift into immortal, cybernetic-based life forms. Their god, Techno-Phase, is pleased with its believers' devotion to it and its cause, and grows in strength and power as the collective belief of thousands slowly fills the god's empowered body. 180AA: The Nomdic Tribunal is dismanded, its members unable to come to an agreement as to how to deal with the Cult of Mechcania and its godlike War Engines. Each member group goes its seperate way. 220AA: The radioactive tankers of Foul Gulch, untouched by the Sandstorm Engagements, come screaming from their northern domain, their superheavy Relic ‘Foulsword’ tanks in the midst of their armies. They clash with the Cult of Mechcania and its War Engines in a fit of pure rage and extreme insanity, their minds blown at the sight of such strange and disgusting machines being used in the art of armored warfare. Nuclear fusion weaponry is discharged, destroying two of the nine landmasses on Gearshift's surface. Seeing that they now have a fighting chance, Gearshift’s Armored Columns slowly emerge from hiding and offer their support to the ‘heroes’ of Foul Gulch. 275AA: Jonathan Holt is born. 280AA: A slow back-and-forth war soon annoys the leader of the Foul Gulch tankers. Looking to spice things up, the Mechcanian Cult’s Citadel Foundry is placed under siege, with the entire Foul Gulch Armored Column committed to the assault. Deseperate to defend their home and their way of life, the Cult of Mechcania pulls every last one of their War Engines from Gearshift's cities and towns and onto to the front lines. With the weakened Armored Columns of Gearshift fighting alongside the Foul Gulch tankers, the engagement becomes the single greatest tank battle in Gearshift’s history, with more than 4,000 tanks (both Relics and First-Era vehicles) taking part. Despite being heavily outnumbered, the Mechcanian Cultists hold out in the defense of their fortress city for roughly two years before finally being overrun. 281AA: The war between the Mechcanian Cult and the Foul Gulch tankers comes to an end, with both groups disappearing from sight. Two years later, the Iron Guardsmen secure hold of Gearshift from the Tankers of Old. They begin to bring about a new order, one that promotes advancement and brotherhood rather than regression and alienation. 285AoS: The '''Age of Supremacy begins, setting the scene for the birth of Armored Security and the coming greatness of Lord General Holt. Category:Armored Security